Jennifer Gareis (born August 1, 1970) is an American

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

and former beauty queen. She is best known for her roles as Grace Turner on ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, ...

'' (1997–2000, 2002, 2004, 2014) and as

Donna Logan Donna Logan is a fictional character from the CBS soap opera ''The Bold and the Beautiful''. Casting The character was played by Carrie Mitchum on a contract basis from 1987 to 1991, who made guest appearances from 1994 to 1995 and 2001. In 2001 ...

on ''

The Bold and the Beautiful ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' (often referred to as ''B&B'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. It premiered on March 23, 1987, as a sister show to the Bells' other soap opera ''The Yo ...

'' (2006–).

Early life

Gareis was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and graduated from J. P. McCaskey High School in 1988. She graduated from

Franklin and Marshall College Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It employs 175 full-time faculty members and has a student body of approximately 2,400 full-time students. It was founded upon the merger of Frankli ...

in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting, then earned a

Master's of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

degree from

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and th ...

. She is of part

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

descent. Her great-grandmother Sebastiana Tringali came from Militello in Val di Catania, and the city gave her the honorary citizenship.

Career

Gareis competed in her first beauty pageant in 1992 when she placed second runner-up at Miss Pennsylvania USA. She later competed in New York, winning the Miss New York USA 1994 title, and representing New York in the Miss USA 1994 pageant held in

South Padre Island, Texas South Padre Island is a resort town in Cameron County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Brownsville– Harlingen Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,066 at the 2020 census. The town is located on South Padre Island, a ba ...

on February 11, 1994. Gareis placed in the top six of the nationally televised pageant, which was won by Lu Parker of

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. Gareis later began an acting career and landed the role of Grace Turner on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

'', which she played from 1997 to 2000 and again in 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2014. She is best known for her current role as

on ''

'', a role she has played intermittently since July 2006. She was ranked #90 on the

Maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment * ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim Radio, ''Maxim'' magazine's radio channel on Sir ...

Hot 100 Women of 2002.

Personal life

Gareis married Bobby Ghassemieh on March 7, 2010. On June 11, 2010, Gareis gave birth to a son, Gavin Blaze Gareis Ghassemieh. Daughter Sophia Rose Gareis Ghassemieh was born June 29, 2012.

Filmography

References

External links

* * 1970 births Actresses from Pennsylvania American film actresses American television actresses Franklin & Marshall College alumni Living people Miss USA 1994 delegates Actors from Lancaster, Pennsylvania American soap opera actresses American people of Italian descent 20th-century American people 21st-century American women {{US-tv-actor-1970s-stub